A SHIMMERING festival of light is expected to attract big crowds to the seaside on two winter nights.

Whitley Bay is presenting its second Shimmer festival of digital art on the evenings of November 3 and 4.

Spanish City’s famous Dome, the Waves leisure centre and the Panama Skate Park are three of the venues for the festival organised by North Tyneside Council and supported by Arts Council England, North East.

For the third year running, the Dome will be the ‘screen’ for an animated film by Newcastle-based Novak Collective featuring images reflecting Whitley Bay’s resort history.

The first showing of the film, called Diversion, attracted thousands of people in 2010, paving the way for the first Shimmer festival last year which was also deemed a great success.

A national call-out for ideas for this year’s festival attracted more than 50 proposals but council arts development officer Kevin Wallace said some of the best had come from emerging artists in the North East.

Among this year’s attractions will be Rainbow Glowing Wheels, a series of multi-coloured neon wheels inspired by the old Spanish City funfair and attached to handrails.

Chronobooth will enable visitors to see their portrait inserted into old photos or film ‘stills’ taken from the archives.

Concrete Waves will involve footage of skateboarders and surfers being projected on to the Panama Skate Park.

A film about the geological history of the area, made by South Tyneside-based Robin Webb with the help of schoolchildren from nearby Coquet Primary School, will be projected on to the wall of Waves leisure centre.

North Tyneside Council cabinet member Coun George Westwater said as the regeneration of the coast continued, it was important for the seafront to be brought to life with exciting activities.